Reading The Mists of Avalon. I read The Death of Arthur a while ago and I was interested in the Arthurian fantasy setting. Seems to me like a whole lot of fantasy is derived from the story framework.

It is where a lot of the classical tropes come from. As a kid I was always partial to Roger Lancelyn Green's rendition of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. It's got that old timey feel to it (it was written in the 50's after all) but in a good way. As a kid, I could only ever find snippets here and there and never really a good complete beginning to end story that wasn't Le Morte d'Arthur so this particular book in my opinion is an excellent gateway to the legend of Arthur as Green takes LMDA and sorts it and gives you the best bits.

On a more modern take, Jack Whyte in the last twenty years or so has put together a lengthy series (8 books) of historical fiction entitled The Camulod Chronicles (A Dream of Eagles in Canada/UK). The book starts at The Skystone, and ends with The Eagle. While a lot of is geared more towards the build up of Arthur's legend (ie: the events that came before, where Camelot came from, the forging of Excalibur, Merlin etc) it is truly a fantastic read. Basically, the series takes the premise that the foundation for everything Arthurian started after the Roman departure from England way back when. So while it's a departure from the traditional medieval setting, it crafts the tale into one that is probably more believable and somewhat more historically in line with Artorius Rex. If you are thinking of the travesty that was 2005's King Arthur (with Kiera Knightly) trust me, it's much better than that.

The Skystone starts off a bit dry, but it quickly picks up afterwards and never looks back. I rarely re-read books, but I am seriously thinking of going back and picking up this series of novels again.

The thing that seems to be most apparent to me about the LMDA book is that most of the characters in it were overly patriarchal - in a sense. The females were used more as plot devices and the males kind of just did whatever the hay they wanted.

What I like about The Mists of Avalon is the author is a bit of a feminist. According to that, you mostly get to see the display from the characters as coming from a female's perspective.

I only got through the first few chapters though. I'm mostly on a general fantasy binge right now.

The thing that seems to be most apparent to me about the LMDA book is that most of the characters in it were overly patriarchal - in a sense. The females were used more as plot devices and the males kind of just did whatever the hay they wanted.

What I like about The Mists of Avalon is the author is a bit of a feminist. According to that, you mostly get to see the display from the characters as coming from a female's perspective.

I only got through the first few chapters though. I'm mostly on a general fantasy binge right now.

Yeah, no fair enough. I could see that for sure. Females in LMDA are used in such a way to test the mighty knights of their qualities whether they be good or bad. See Lancelot and Elaine/Guenievere or other tales involving such as Gawain and the Green Knight. He cheats death by taking the girdle of Bertilak's wife in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, thereby exposing his cowardice, despite being one of the bravest of King Arthur's knights. Again, the female is used as a character test.

That being said, I do recall writing a paper on some aspect of LMDA in university, but IIRC Mallory was rotting away in prison, and while he writes about a fantasy land that never was (ideals for men and women) it probably had to do with him projecting his desire for a declining class of nobility and the ideals it should have stood for, despite the fact that the whole courtly love thing was essentially the downfall of Arthur's reign. For better or for worse, it has influenced more or less every major work concerning Arthur, and I think you have authors like Bradley and others who tried to give more dimensions to female characters as a result. On that note, Anne Rice's sister writing novel concerning Guinevere as a warrior queen, though I don't think it was well received.

Finished reading The Grapes of Wrath a few weeks ago. It was good, and beautifully written, though I did feel like most of the character development didn't happen until the last hundred pages.

After that I read The Great Hunt. I liked The Eye of the World fine enough, but got bogged down through most of it since the characters were always on the run, and not much seemed to happen more than that. The Great Hunt was a definite improvement, and I really liked how the world Jordan created is beginning to open up in this book, with hints of lots more to come.

Now reading a book my company publishes called All The Truth That's in Me.

For anyone unfamiliar with the book:"A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer Walter M. Miller, Jr., first published in 1960. Based on three short stories Miller contributed to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it is the only novel published by the author during his lifetime. Considered one of the classics of science fiction, it has never been out of print and has seen over 25 reprints and editions. Appealing to mainstream and genre critics and readers alike, it won the 1961 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel.

Set in a Roman Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war, the story spans thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself. The monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz take up the mission of preserving the surviving remnants of man's scientific knowledge until the day the outside world is again ready for it.

Inspired by the author's participation in the Allied bombing of the monastery at Monte Cassino during World War II, the novel is considered a masterpiece by literary critics. It has been compared favorably with the works of Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Walker Percy, and its themes of religion, recurrence, and church versus state have generated a significant body of scholarly research."